Opinion

You're a fan without a nation. 

The 2014 MLB Playoff field is set, and while you mourn your beloved New York Yankees from your home probably nowhere near New York, you need a surrogate team. Well, the Washington Nationals bandwagon is accepting applications, and no other franchise makes a better case for your temporary affection. 

Not every team will have the luxury of signing superstars like Max Scherzer, Jon Lester and Hanley Ramirez during the 2015 offseason, which is why it is worth looking at some under-the-radar options who will be on the market.

Baseball season is long. Seriously, think about what you were doing in late March. Doesn't that seem like a long, long time ago, if you can conjure it at all?

Yet, here we are. The final week of the 2014 MLB campaign. Not everything is decided; entering play Saturday there are still division titles to be won and home-field advantage to secure.

Now it is time to worry about their chances to stay alive.

A disappointing 4-7 road trip has left the Seattle Mariners on the brink of playoff elimination.

You might have tuned into NBC Sports last night and thought, “Damn, this is a long Derek Jeter commercial.”

And you wouldn’t have been entirely wrong. Reality twisted into fiction at Yankee Stadium on Thursday night, with real life taking on the facile shimmer of an advertising fairy tale.

My mama always told me, "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all." Well, if you go by that philosophy, there hasn't been much to say about the Oakland A's over the past two months.

Justin Verlander has struggled this year.  Actually, that’s a bit generous. 

Sugarcoating aside, he has been terrible.  His current 4.54 ERA is the second-highest of his career, and his strikeout total is at its lowest since 2006, his first full season in the big leagues.  His 1.40 WHIP is tied for the highest in his career, and he just hasn’t been the dominant ace he once was.

Ah, yes. The old switcheroo.

The bait-and-switch is a mainstay of old ballpark cons, but one young ball boy wet his feet in the art at Yankee Stadium on Thursday night. 

A prospect-churning player development system is a luxury every organization throughout Major League Baseball would like to have. In St. Louis, the pipeline begins in Palm Beach, Florida, and ends under the Arch in front of the best fans in baseball. The Cardinals are loaded with prospects.